U.S. diplomats’ influence at home

On this week’s episode of Conversations with Nicholas Kralev, we discuss the role career diplomats play in making U.S. foreign policy, and why presidents tend to distrust the Foreign Service, with James Jeffrey, former ambassador to Iraq and Turkey, and Avis Bohlen, former assistant secretary of state for arms control.

Jeffrey and Bohlen also talk about how career diplomats can best prepare to be influential and effective policy advisers to presidents and secretaries of state.

Both Jeffrey and Bohlen joined the Foreign Service in 1977 and are now retired. Jeffrey also served as deputy national security adviser in the George W. Bush White House. Bohlen is a former ambassador to Bulgaria and deputy chief of mission in Russia.